Monday, June 9, 2014

Review: Ruby Red by Kerstin Gier

Title: Ruby Red
Author: Kerstin Gier
Translated by: Anthea Bell
Published by: Henry Holt And Company
Released: 2011
Summary: Gwen has always been aware of the time travel gene that runs in her family, and has accepted that that gene went to her cousin Charlotte. The majority of the family fawns over Charlotte and waits anxiously for her symptoms to show and for her to magically disappear into another time. With all the attention focused on Charlotte, Gwen has been allowed to have a normal childhood and hang out with her best friend Lesley whenever she likes.
One day the unexpected happens, Gwen is sucked back in time. Gwen finds out she is the true inheritor of the gene and she becomes sucked into the Secret Order of the Guardians and a secret mission that involves using her gift to travel through time. Partnered up with a time-traveling, hot boy named Gideon. Gwen must accept her new destiny and try to understand her role in the Order and her time traveling mission.
My Thoughts: Such a fun read. I'd been hearing good things about this series for a while and couldn't wait to get my hands on it. I really enjoyed every second of it and ended up getting so caught up in the story that I had to read into the wee hours of the morning to finish it. Gwen was such a fun character because she feels like a real teen girl. She's slightly immature, a little spunky, and funny. Being with her as she tries to understand her new role in this time-traveling Order was a very enjoyable experience.
Gideon was definitely a crush-worthy character too. It only made me sad to read the year he was born in, because I felt like a creepy old lady for thinking this young guy was so adorable. One of the downfalls of being an adult(ish) person who reads YA.
There were some aspects of the book that did feel a little funny to me. One was that this book really didn't have an ending, at all. I guess it could be called a cliffhanger, but it just felt rather abrupt and no real conclusion was reached. It literally ends with a kiss, a first kiss, which was one of the weirdest ways to end a book. I really did want to pick up the second book, but I have some other books that are on my TBR pile next. The other weird thing about Ruby Red was the prologue. It didn't seem to fit with the story and really made no sense, until the reader gets to the epilogue where they find out some interesting stuff. I'd advise readers to re-read the prologue after finishing the book, because then things start to come together and make more sense. The placement of that scene contained in the prologue just felt off and didn't really make sense.
Also, I'm always confused of books originally written in German, but then are set in London or the U.K. This is the second book I've read that does this, so I don't know if this is a thing or a fluke.
All in all, great book! I can't wait to continue on with the rest of the trilogy and find out what happens to Gwen and Gideon and between Gwen and Gideon ;)
Go start this series if you haven't yet, you won't be disappointed.
BOOKCITEMENT LEVEL 4.5/5
Time travel looks fun!

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